Serenity
by JWNoctis
Summary: Set between "The Perfect Gift" and "Sibilance", Leo and Aeris enjoyed a particularly tranquil night in their home. My first attempt writing an English story, submitted here after on dA. Might be a bit too liberal in depiction, discretion suggested.


It was quiet.

Normally, Aeris would not have liked it, for both Leo and herself weren't that type of person. Quietness is boring. However, today, it seemed to be different. It wasn't noisy.

Nonsense. She chided herself silently. Had to pay Leo royalty for thinking like that.

However, it was true. It was that kind of quietness. It only existed in a warm and fuzzy winter night, like this one, right now, being just noisy enough to overpower that natural noise which invariably disturbs everyone's mind. Yeah. Deafening silence, just like where that clichéd oxymoron has gone. That was what you get when it's too quiet, and Leo was an _oxy_moron, not a moron. It was funny, for quite a good few times.

Enjoy it while it lasts. She chuckled as she pounded the last few cubes of offending natural terrain away into the ground. By nature or not, this thing really suited her. Leo was a genius. Sometimes.

It was quiet outside too, a good thing, and an advantage for the suburb apartment they shared the rent of. There was a Canadian cold breeze, and there was snow, half-sublimated. The sky was fair, a few clouds hanged here and there on a dark starry backdrop, with no moon to light them up. Maybe it could have been a good night hanging out somewhere, but Leo was tired, and his curiousness, as always, had just got him something good to play with, together with his best friend, this time.

He was wearing a blue-colored shirt, along with a pair of pajama pants of the same color. His hair was unkempt, along with his trademark bell, which was askew. Then there stood out a smear of brown-colored gravy across his cheek, deducibly from the Chinese takeout he had as supper. That was tasty, he thought, as he added another boxy pixel on the Mario pixel-art he was building. Their life had not been tasty at all.

First, it would had been a miracle for Aeris to keep her part-time for any longer than one month, and that miracle just didn't happen, especially after that night, when she flipped out on another jerk of a diner in the restaurant again, just two days short of New Year's Day. There were loads and loads of name-calling, like a clustered Funky Bomb from Scorched Earth, all the way back, and in their apartment. He cringed a bit involuntarily on this thought. It was like that.

She did got her paycheck one day earlier than normal, and more time to spend for now, too, if that was a good thing. Anyway, she had calmed down by now. A good thing, Leo added mentally. Being an emotional outlet can hurt, both in body, and in mind.

Secondly, he had, politely speaking, had it with his finals. Schoolwork was just not his thing for as long as he still remembered, even though he did make it into the same university with Aeris, the scholarship winner. In his miserable history with his schoolwork, mathematics, algebra and the likes, had been the worst offender. Mix that with calculus in the university, and, well, you know. Leo muttered. Fortunately, his microphone did not pick it up, though the fact was still clear. With his housemate's help, he had been able to remain inside the university for two and a half years. However, if he had wanted to wear that mortarboard next year together with Aeris, he would better do something.

Leo was about to go into the third point, when he realized that he had missed a line in his pixel-art. He cursed loudly, and Aeris, already known better than keeping a high volume on her headset, especially after a particular incident with Unreal Tournament years ago, glanced over to his screen and giggled. Only then did he did realize the futility of ruining a perfect night's mood for nothing. Turning his gravy-smeared face to Aeris, he cracked a goofy smile.

Aeris looked into his stupid expression for a moment, giggled even harder, and turned her attention back to the house she was piling up. A snarky comment will just ruin the moment this time, even with all those gravy on his face, she thought as she stared into her screen. She had skeptically heard from Leo that people had built a full sized USS Enterprise with this, and now, couple of hours spent, she believed. What a little gem, Leo was a genius.

Yeah, he indeed was. She continued with her thought, and stretched herself back onto the sofa with a satisfied yawn instead. He had got enough juices to wore that lipstick mark back to campus, with absolute…_egregiousness_ as himself had said later, to catch some rays last Christmas, exploding rumors across the entire university. As famous as it had got was the fact that he hadn't been known to hang out with anyone other than a select one, and his status as a sort of unofficial mascot hadn't helped at all.

That was actually kind of funny by now; deep in thought, she continued without blushing. All those sorts of gossips were already there since their junior high years, and acknowledgements aside, she had wished to keep what she had, whatever that was, in between with Leo as-is for at least another couple of years, and there were some good evidences that Leo had essentially adopted the same idea. If there was any sort of unspoken agreement that she had trusted to exist actually exists between her and Leo, it was about this. After all, both of them had not been waiting for nothing, they were just, kind of, friends, and inseparable. Just like this.

Then he was cute with that gravy smear, too. She chuckled again, and returned to her laptop. The musicals were mesmerizing, a perfect fit. Leo was a genius.

Leo smiled. His Mario was, despite some problems, or troubles, or debacles, a success. He stood up, and started to make his way back to his room. Leo had just had too much with his finals. Leo was going back to sleep. Leo needed it. He pondered as he glanced around and smiled at her again, as she smiled back. And how lovely she was like this.

What a quiet night.

VG Cats ©2001-2011 Scott Ramsoomair


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